CITY OF NAGA, Bicol Region (BicolToday.com) – Anakpawis party-list Rep. Ariel “Ka Ayik” Casilao will join tomorrow in this city the Bicol-leg of the week- long peasant campaign and caravan dubbed as “Lakbay Magsasaka” being led by the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP).

Casilao will be joined by the party-list’s former representative and National Chairperson of the Pamalakaya – Pilipinas fisherfolk group, Fernando “Ka Pando” Hicap.

About 2,000 farmers from the Bicol region will arrive in Manila on October 23 to set-up camp and protest at Mendiola bridge in Manila on October 25, to demand free distribution of land, and end to fascist attacks by government forces on farming communities.

This day, protest actions in the region’s provinces are already commencing, particularly in Camarines Sur and Sorsogon.

The protesting farmers are demanding for genuine distribution of coconut levy funds to small farmers, the stop to extra-judicial killings, human rights abuses and militarization of peasant communities.

Casilao and other lawmakers under the Makabayan coalition are authors of House Bill No. 557, Genuine Small Coconut Farmers’ Fund, that demands the direct distribution of the coconut levy funds to small farmers.

“Farmers from Bicol are condemning the passed coco levy bill in Congress, that deprives them of their right to access the fund, as its provisions ensure the perpetual existence of the funds and privatization, and they are also holding the Duterte administration primarily liable for its failure to fulfill its promise to distribute the fund to the farmers,” Casilao said.

Tomorrow, thousands of farmers under the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Bikol (KMB) will be protesting at the provincial offices of National Irrigation Administration (NIA), National Food Authority (NFA), Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO), and Provincial Agrarian Reform Office (PARO).

“It is evident that the president has abandoned the legitimate calls of farmers for fundamental reforms and services, worse, he is waging the all-out war in the countryside that is victimizing peasant communities,” Casilao ended.

The lawmaker urged the public to support Lakbay Magsasaka as their call for genuine land reform will also benefit various sectors in society. [BicolToday.com]